MADRID | June 1, 2015 | By JP Marín Arrese | When Tsipras took over matters from Varoufakis a couple of weeks ago, observers were mildly optimistic about the prospect of Greece reaching a fair deal with its creditors. But yesterday’s remarks by the Hellenic PM on the ‘absurd’ demands filed by his counterparts has dealt a heavy blow to such hopes. The chances of broking an agreement are far away and there are increasing doubts over the ability to reach an understanding before it is too late.

ATHENS | May 18, 2014 | By Manos Giakoumis via MacroPolis | The ongoing and troubled negotiations between Greece and its lenders, as well as the weekly meetings of the European Central Bank’s governing council mean that there is growing concern about the extent to which Greek banks will continue to be able to draw emergency liquidity to cover the outflow of deposits.

ATHENS | May 16, 2015 | By Manos Giakoumis via MacroPolis | Since December, the Greek banking system has been suffering from extended deposit outflows, which reached 26.8 billion euros at the end of March. Almost 90 percent of these withdrawals stemmed from time deposits, while only around 600 million euros was taken from savings accounts.

The Corner | April 29, 2015 | Amid speculations about a Greek deal (see examples of the bipolar opinion landscape here and here), market makers seemed more apeased yesterday but still have their doubts about the post June situation. “The yield on 3-year Greek debt remains very elevated and suggests that ‘market access’ is unlikely to be afforded to Greece at acceptable interest rates any time soon,” experts at BNP commented.

The Corner | April 21, 2015 | Markets remain divided about the Greek debt negociations –or rather the lack of them. Time is running out and Athens’ legislative act asking public sector entities to transfer idle cash reserves to Greece’s central bank, in order to deal with a cash squeeze, proves it. That plan could raise about 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion), according to sources quoted by Bloomberg.

The Corner | April 17, 2015 | ECB’s Vice President Vitor Constancio put things into perspective by pointing out that Greek banks’ exposure to Greek sovereign bonds is much smaller than other banking sectors’.

ATHENS | March 30, 2015 | By Manos Giakoumis via MacroPolis | Following the Eurogroup decision on February 20, Greece returned 10.9 billion (European Financial Stability Fund) EFSF bonds at the end of the previous month. That transaction reduced accordingly the country’s debt and the debt to GDP ratio by more than 6 percentage points.

MADRID | The Corner | Markets seem optimistic about the deal between Greece and its creditors (a government spokesman said they aim to reach a compromise today), although analysts are still wondering whether there have been any advances in the negotiation. “At least the ECB decided to a slight increase in emergency funding (ELA) for Greek banks on Wednesday,” a Barclays’ Alberto Vigil said. “But we still don’t know which reforms the Greeks have agreed on.” The ECB had already raised the ELA available to Greek banks by 5 billion euros to about 65 billion seven days ago.

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | The ECB will be the main actor in the Greek crisis today. The Governing Council of the Frankfurt-based institution is meeting not to discuss monetary policy but to decide whether it maintains the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greek banks, which is crucial so the country can stay in the euro club –something that, in spite of propaganda and short sellers, both Athens and Berlin desire.